Running From Lions
by greyzlove
Summary: This story picks up where the season three finale left off. It involves several different couples, but I'm not sure who that would involve yet. Read and review, please!


1

Meredith Grey woke up to find that, not only was her head killing her, but she wasn't in her house. She sat up and stretched, yawning. She recollected the events of the previous day and look down to see Cristina rolled up into a ball, sleeping, on the floor below her.

Deciding that it would be best not to wake her, Meredith stepped around her sleeping figure. She picked up Cristina's wedding dress off of the floor, immediately noticing the rip at the bottom of the zipper that she must have made in her haste to get Cristina out of it. Trying to decide what would be best for Cristina and the dress.

Realizing that she wouldn't be able to return the dress so that Cristina would never have to see it again, anyways, she stuffed it under the bed in Preston and Cristina's room, hiding it from view. She walked into the kitchen and started the coffee pot, trying not to bang around too much as she looked for Advil for her killer headache. She found the source of it when she went to pick her own dress up off of the floor; four empty wine bottles lay haphazardly on the floor. She picked them up and lined them up next to the sink.

Deciding that breakfast wouldn't exactly agree with her stomache, she went into the bathroom and called Bailey.

"Bailey," she answered, obviously at work.

"Hi. Uh, in light of the.. er.. events last night, I was wondering if maybe I could have the day off to, er, be with Cristina? Oh, it's Meredith," she added quickly.

"I recognize yo' voice, even hungover. If you want some time to console Cristina, fine. But by console, I do not mean drink her pain away and have relationsions with every damn person in this hospital. You can come back tomorrow," Bailey said.

"Thank yo-" she was interupted by the sound of Bailey hanging up.

Slightly embarassed by Bailey's comment, she hung up, too. That brought the one thing she wasn't trying to think about right to the top of the list; Derek. In all of the drama, she had just had enough. And then she realized what exactly it was about Derek that she couldn't leave; he wasn't a boyfriend until she threatened to make him _not_ her boyfriend. Then he swooped in with these perfect things that he was saying and she was trapped and she couldn't find her way out.

_Not anymore_, she thought to herself. _I have to tell him that I'm either the girlfriend or I'm not the girlfriend_. She decided it would be best to drop by then, when she had the courage to say it to his face. She wrote "Cristina- went out for a bit, be back by 1. -Mer" on a note and left it next to the coffee pot, then grabbed one of Cristina's jackets and put it on over her slip. It then occured to her that she couldn't exactly wear that in public. _It doesn't matter_, she thought. _Just get to Derek before you wimp out_.

She headed out the apartment door, keeping her face down to all of Cristina's neighbors who had been going about their business. She walked quickly and practiced what she was going to say to Derek as she walked to the parking garage to find her car. As she drove, she tried over and over again to come up with the perfect words, but then decided that there probably weren't perfect words for this situation.

She arrived at the trailer and turned off her car. She was hesitant, because this was when she was giving him the chance to break up with her. _Not the chance_, she thought. _The ultimatum_. She banged the door of the trailer open, a little harder than she intended, startling Derek who was seated at the table/fold out bed. He was drinking a cup of coffee, looking exhausted.

"Meredith.. what.. is.. is everything okay?" He asked, obviously taken aback by her slip, unbrushed hair, red cheeks.

"Yes. Well, no. Wait, why are you here?" She just realized that, being an attending, he should probably be at the hospital at this time.

"Chief gave me the day off so that I could attempt to find Burke. Although I don't know why," he added under his breath.

"Wait. You.. you don't know where he is?" Meredith asked, taken aback slightly.

"No, I don't. I even tried his parents. They haven't heard from him," Derek said, running his right hand through his hair. "But why are you here? Did we have plans?" He asked, looking confused.

"No. I just.. We have to talk. I can't be the sometimes girlfriend anymore," she said, jumping right into it.

"The.. what?"

"I can't be your girlfriend when you want me to be and your not-girlfriend when you don't want me to be," she stated, confusing herself slightly.

"Meredith.. you're not my not-girlfriend. You're my girlfriend. I mean.. what are you talking about?"  
"You act like I'm not. You act like I"m still your dirty mistress, until I get sick of it, and then you act like I'm your girlfriend. Just.. pick," she said. She realized that things were coming out jumbled and mixed up and sat down across from Derek, attempting to calm down slightly.

"Pick? You want me to pick between you being my girlfriend and being my dirty mistress, even though I'm not married?" He asked. He was perplexed.

"No. Pick between me being your always-girlfriend or your never-girlfriend." She said. He registered a look of understanding in his eyes, like suddenly it all made sense.

"Meredith.. there's probably something you should know before you throw around the term 'girlfriend,'" he said, and then it hit her. _Oh, God, he did sleep with that girl from the bar. Oh, God_, she thought.

"You're.. you're having an affair, aren't you?" She asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"What? No! I'm not having an affair," he said. "Meredith.." he grabbed her hand and held it gently in his. "I love you. And.. had the wedding yesterday happened, you would have known that."

"What does the wedding have to do with this?" She asked.

"I wasn't going to tell you, but I guess you should probably know that at the celebration after the wedding, I was intended on proposing," he said, his voice low and his eyes twinkling.

"You're.. proposing?" She asked. Now _she_ was perplexed.

"Proposing. I've had the ring for a while, but I figured I should hold onto it, unless you drown again," he said, smirking. He got up and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small box with a silver bow. He handed it to her and she opened it, hands shaking, to find a silver band with the most perfect, most simple diamond sitting on top of it.

"I.. you wanted to marry me?" She asked, holding the box and starring into his eyes, tears leaking out of hers.

"I still do. Meredith Grey, you are the most beautiful, strong, intelligent, accident-prone person I know. And I love you," he said. He was smiling. He took the box from her hands and kneeled on the ground of the trailer below her. "Meredith Grey, will you marry me?" He asked, smiling and looking into her eyes.

"I.. Yes," she said, not being able to think of anything else. He gently grabbed her hand and slipped the ring on. "It's perfect. You're.. you're perfect," she said, standing up to hug him.

"Not perfect," he said, wrapping his arms around her, "but close," he whispered into her hair.


End file.
